“I love an underdog story,” Mahaffey said. “I’m just really a nobody who always wanted to make a
film.

“I said, ‘Boy, this is it.’ I love sports, and I love underdogs. I just thought it would make a
terrific movie.”

He wrote his book, a fictionalized version of the story; converted it to a screenplay; and
turned it into a feature film.

Gibsonburg was filmed during the summer of 2011 for about $250,000. It is showing in about
40 theaters statewide and will be released on DVD and available on video- streaming services.

Kyle Rase, a first-year head coach of the northeastern Ohio team in 2005, was among a group
gathered recently for the initial screening of the film.

“It was fun to see the guys (from the team) watch it and see the people again who worked on it,”
said Rase, who described both the 2005 season and the film experience as surreal.

He liked the story, he said.

“Some of the endings of the games were dramatized a bit, . . . but that made it fun and
interesting to watch.”

The movie is a fictional depiction of Gibsonburg’s achievement as the only team in the history
of any Ohio high-school sport to win a state championship with a losing record during its regular
season.

“We had one goal and one goal only,” Mahaffey said. “We wanted to make a work of art that we
would all be proud of — me and the 50 college students (who worked on the film).”

The film centers on four real players: Andy Gruner (played by lead actor Louis Bonfante, an Ohio
State University student from Dublin), Alex Black (OSU student Jonnie Wagner), Wyatt Kiser (OSU
student Dustin Shidaker), and Wes Milleson (Nick Schneider, a Dublin resident and student at Elon
University in North Carolina).

“You never think you’re ever going to see someone portraying your life or something you did,”
said Gruner, a pharmacist in the Dayton area. “I still don’t know what to make of it. But it was
exciting to see it happen.”

Also in the film is actress Lili Reinhart, a Bay Village, Ohio, native who has a role in the
film
Kings of Summer, set for a June 21 release.

Reinhart plays the love interest of Gruner.

Rase also has a small role as an assistant coach alongside Ryan Kunk, who plays Rase.

“I’ll never forget these guys,” Rase said of the team. “The first class you teach, or the first
team you coach, is always very memorable.

“Because we won, that made it even more memorable.”

That memory, Rase said, remains vivid even eight years later.

“To win eight games in the tournament, playing against all of those good teams, you think: ‘How
did that happen?’ ”